Members Present:                 P. Anneser, P. Baumann, G. Claffey, R. Cohen, J. Delaura, C. Dimmick, K. Farrington, G. Fitzgerald, F. Frangione, R. Kalder, P. Kyem, J. Lefebvre, C. Marshall, G. Mejia, D. Mulcahy, B. Nicholson, J. Nicoll-Senft, M. Nunn, A. Osburne, V. Rajaravivarma, S. Seider

Guests/ex. officio:      P. Lemma, A. Moran, C. Pudlinski

G. Mejia called the Graduate Studies Committee to order at 2:43 pm. 

I.                   Approval of Minutes

A.  Members present approved the January 29, 2004 minutes with minor edits. 

II.                Announcements from Dean Lemma

A.   Spring Admissions:  P. Lemma provided a report on the spring admissions

Graduate Students        

 Spring 2003    Spring 2004

Full-time New and           464                  472

Continuing Students

Part-time New and           2,180               2,226

Continuing Students

Graduate Registered

Students                                                           2,664               2,728

B.  Spring Credits: P. Lemma provided a report on the spring admissions

Graduate Students                                        

Spring 2003    Spring 2004

Full-time     5,078               5,109

Part-time    14,718     14,120

Graduate Registered

Credits   13,911 14,179

The Dean will distribute these numbers broken down by department at the Spring Graduate Forum.  She will be using this as a case for the cycling of courses, attempting to keep the programs as close to a six year program as possible.  The cycling would help boost retention numbers. 

C.     Reminder:  All theses must be handed in no later than April 16, 2004 in order to have the students listed in the graduate commencement booklet.  All approval forms signed by the committee members must accompany the thesis as well as the digitized copy and the form for submission to the library.  (The thesis handbook is available online through the graduate website:  www.ccsu.edu/grad)   

D.    The date of the Graduate Research and Creative Presentation day has been changed to May 18^th at 4pm.  Poster boards will be provided by the Graduate office. 

E.     Forms:  There has been repeated confusion about several forms this semester; the first forms causing confusion are the Graduate Assistant Request Form and the Graduate Assistantship Appointment form.  The second is the Capstone Request form which registers students for their capstone of theses or special projects.

Graduate Assistant Request Form

Graduate Assistantship Appointment Form

The Graduate Assistant Request Form needs to be submitted every semester for every graduate assistant position.  The deadlines are:  July 31^st for fall semester and December 15^th for the spring semester.  The dean needs to report to NEASC that the CCSU graduate assistants are performing quality tasks and not doing clerical work.

When the department has specific students in mind for the graduate assistant positions, then they need to submit the Graduate Assistantship Appointment Form.  The deadline for this form is no later than the first week of classes.  Once the Graduate office processes this form, it is sent to Personnel, allowing the student to be entered into the system and enabling them to be paid their stipends.  If the department is not able to fill the position by the first week of classes, P. Lemma requested that they contact the Graduate office, so that they are aware of the problem.

Capstone Request Form

P. Lemma reminded the committee that she sees only the Capstone Request Form.  (The Special Project Request Form is for independent studies which do not go to graduate studies nor require her signature.)

It is due when all other courses are due.  The student need to register in person, (not on-line), have all signatures, and be completed no later than the semester’s “add period” for registration.  P. Lemma will edit the existing form (Capstone Project Request Form), dropping the word “Project” from the current title to read:  Capstone Request Form.

III.               G. Mejia requested deviating from the agenda due to time constraints of several members. 

IV.              Committee Report from the Policy Committee

The Policy Committee met on February 24, 2004 to discuss two items.  Final wording of the policy will read:

A.        Graduate Admissions Policy change: 

The planned program should be developed with the advisor early in the student’s graduate studies and must be approved prior to the completion of 16 credits of coursework. There is no assurance that course work completed before the planned program has been agreed upon with the academic advisor, will be approved.  However, no more than 9 credits at the 500 level taken as a non-matriculated student will be approved for programs requiring 30-35 credits (or 25% of the total credits for programs over the 36 credits).

A motion was made by M. Nunn and seconded to accept changes from 15 credits to 16 credits.  Approved with minor edits.

B.        Admissions Policy change for the Department of Art

POINT 1:  In addition to the requirements of the School of Graduate Studies, application to the Department of Art requires the student to submit evidence for:

1)      An undergraduate major in art, or  demonstrated  equivalent proficiency

2)      A portfolio of work: If a student intends to focus on a particular area such as drawing, ceramics, painting, etc., it is recommended the student include in the portfolio samples of work that specifically relate to the designated area.  If a specific area of concentration is not specified, then the student should submit samples of her or his best work.

3)      An essay.

The student should contact the Department of Art (860-832-2620) or check the Department website for more specific explanations of criteria for portfolios and essays.

POINT 2:  The new policy will go into effect:  Spring, 2005

POINT 3:  For applications that come in during the summer before the July 1 deadline, students will submit portfolios as per the department’s guidelines.  The Chair or designee(s) will do a preliminary review and will, as in the spring semester review:

1)      Accept

2)      Accept the student conditionally, pending a successful portfolio and essay review by faculty during the fall semester, or

3)      Reject the student’s application when the student does not meet departmental requirements.

A motion was made by M. Nunn and seconded to accept changes.  Approved with minor edits.

S. Seider handed out the Graduate Studies Policy Committee Survey on the Oral Defense of the MS Thesis requirement.   The Policy committee seeks input on making this a requirement for all programs who offer the thesis option as a capstone.  She requests that all feedback be sent or emailed to S. Seider (Seider@ccsu.edu).

V.                 New Business:  Antonia Moran reported on Academic Misconduct.   National data indicates that faculty members are not consistent in reporting academic misconduct.  Most faculty members feel that they should attempt to handle the matter privately.  This encourages students to play faculty against each other.  Cultural and age differences in faculty and students have the potential to cause problems.  Therefore, students may be worried about not understanding individual faculty expectations.  

All faculty received the guide to Faculty Integrity for Undergraduates last semester.   Section 1 gives a careful description of the policy.  Section 2 helps the faculty member with the details of advising.  This booklet also lists the Ten Principles of Academic Integrity along with a copy of the Academic Misconduct report and other available resources. 

There is no comparable guide for faculty who teach graduate courses.  A. Moran strongly encouraged the Graduate Studies Committee to create one, using the Undergraduate document as a guide.   She felt that the culture change must begin at the faculty level and that we must demonstrate our academic integrity by creating this document. 

A. Moran reported that some faculty had voiced a concern about reporting misconduct to the Academic Judicial Officer.  It was felt that there was excess punishment and that this is being used as an excuse to not report the misconduct.  A. Moran felt that this was a failure of the faculty.  If the students think they can get away with misconduct, it taints our work with them. 

G. Mejia charged the Policy committee with this task. 

VI.              Reports from the Committees

A.     Scholarship and Awards

P. Kyem handed out proposed guidelines for nomination of departments or for faculty for the Graduate Community of Scholars Tribute.  He mentioned that departments can nominate their own or another department as well as a faculty member.  P. Lemma reiterated that in creating the criteria for this tribute, it was not an effort to create more work for departments but to keep it simple.   G. Mejia felt that the process seemed very simple with a nomination letter to be submitted to the Graduate School Office by March 8, 2004.  The Scholarship and Awards Committee will formally invite nominated departments/faculty to submit supporting documents by April 15, 2004.  The Tribute recipient will be announced at the Spring Graduate Forum.  The winning department will receive the framed poster that will be given to the department for the year. The department’s name and year will be added to the plaque that resides in the Graduate Office.  The vote passed.

B.     Curriculum 

C. Pudlinski reported for J. Kovel who was absent.  

Item #1: Department of Criminal Justice – Course addition of CJ560, Sexual Offending.  Passed.

Item #2: Department of Manufacturing & Construction Management –

a.      Course addition of CM500, Fundamentals of Construction Management.  Passed as amended.

b.      Course addition of CM565, Construction Labor Relations.   Passed.

c.       Course addition of CM575, Construction Financial Management.  Passed.

d.      Course addition of CM405, Topics in Construction.  Deferred.

Item #3: Department of Political Science– Course addition of PS501, Advanced Studies in International Law.  Passed. 

C.  Appeals: None

VII.           Graduate Student Association Report:  None

VIII.        Unfinished Business: None

IX.              Adjournment –4:03 pm

Minutes edited as approved 3/18/2004